I haven't started watching this one yet (halfway through Iron Fist) and pretty much all the Netflix Marvel series have the same problem - too many episodes for too little story. Daredevil was the best about it but they all sort of start to drag around episode 8 because you can tell they are just padding the story. TV writers still haven't tipped to the idea that they don't have to make comic stories one entire season per story - it's ok to do some one-off episodes that have nothing to do with the main season plot.

I don't know, you don't even need that. You'd think it wouldn't be hard to just write a god damn story that filled the target episodes you are given. This isn't normal TV writing where they make up shit as they go through the season, on top of not having any set end date for the whole series. You have an exact number of episodes handed to you. Why in gods name do you need filler, unless you are just a shitty writer? Write a 12 episode plot line you fucking twits.

Enjoying it so far, but yeah, they seem to be filling an awful lot of space with random stuff not Frank Castle for no apparent reason. My only guess is other than the "shitty writes" theory is perhaps a budget thing. Just having random people talk in a room is way cheaper than filming fight scenes and things being accomplished. Daredevil probably had the biggest budget, thus why they didn't seem to shy away from him fighting and accomplishing things every episode. All of these other series...... that's my only guess.

"My great-grandfather did not travel across four thousand miles of the Atlantic Ocean to see this nation overrun by immigrants. He did it because he killed a man back in Ireland. That's the rumor."-Stephen Colbert

Sometimes, it's a lot harder to fill episodes even when you know how much space you have. Not only do you have the "can't think of something good" problem, you also have producers, agents and actors who will either 1) want more time for their actor/character, 2) want less time for their actor/character because they are busy filming a movie/other TV show/commercial, and 3) have a limit on the number of new characters you can introduce based on actor contracts.

Not saying the writers may not be shitty, just that there's a fuckload more to writing TV than I think any other type of writing.

The "everything at once" binge nature of the consumer may be an enabling factor. On a weekly schedule, a show can't have too many 'filler' episodes, because you'll lose the audience and might not get them back. Main character development and arc pacing has to happen in the cracks of an episode that must stand on its own.

Which can lead to 'villain of the week' in network TV superhero shows, and the Netflix shows may be trying too hard to avoid that. But this really could have used an episode or two where Frank sees some asshole kick a puppy, so Frank murders his entire bloodline.

The "everything at once" binge nature of the consumer may be an enabling factor.

Calling BS on this one. I binged game of thrones seasons 1-5 in a couple weeks a while ago and there were maybe 4 episodes I thought were truly filler, it kept my attention for the entire ride. The netflix marvel shows ALL just seem to trudge along slowly and it's because each show only has one truly compelling character, the hero. Ensemble cast shows can hold a series through multiple plotlines because there is no one main protagonist so you end up caring about many of the characters. No one gives a shit about the side characters in marvel shows and if you want 13 hour long episodes you cant have only a single character anyone cares about.

No. No, I'm not convinced. Luke Cage had plenty, Jones had plenty, Daredevil had plenty. If anything, you're just describing Iron First, which was just one other reason that it sucked the fucking marrow of the Earth.

Also, there's plenty of fucking filler in Game of Thrones. Like, tons.

The "everything at once" binge nature of the consumer may be an enabling factor.

Calling BS on this one. I binged game of thrones seasons 1-5 in a couple weeks a while ago and there were maybe 4 episodes I thought were truly filler, it kept my attention for the entire ride.

You're kind of making my point: GoT was written as weekly episodes. Almost every episode has an arc and a resolution (although it has a fair number of "phone booth" episodes where everything is dialog, even there they have rising tension and a denouement), in addition to that of the season as a whole and the series as a whole. The Marvel Netflix series are written as a single arc, and an entire episode can go by where nothing significant happens, then every sub-plot tries to complete at once.

No one gives a shit about the side characters in marvel shows and if you want 13 hour long episodes you cant have only a single character anyone cares about.

I'm only halfway through Iron Fist and I have to disagree. I actually care more about Coleen Wing than Iron Fist, probably because they are really weak on writing Iron Fist's character. Misty Knight, Felicia Hardy and Claire are all compelling characters, though maybe not strong enough to carry a series by themselves.

The "everything at once" binge nature of the consumer may be an enabling factor.

Calling BS on this one. I binged game of thrones seasons 1-5 in a couple weeks a while ago and there were maybe 4 episodes I thought were truly filler, it kept my attention for the entire ride. The netflix marvel shows ALL just seem to trudge along slowly and it's because each show only has one truly compelling character, the hero. Ensemble cast shows can hold a series through multiple plotlines because there is no one main protagonist so you end up caring about many of the characters. No one gives a shit about the side characters in marvel shows and if you want 13 hour long episodes you cant have only a single character anyone cares about.

Nah. Netflix Marvel has 2 at minimum. The hero and a villain. I say A villain instead of the villain because Marvel Netflix usually gives us 2 and the usually pick the wrong one to focus on the most or allow to live for future storylines.

Billy Russo is a great villain and I'm glad it was only Agent Orange who was eliminated.

Besides the heroes and villains there is a side character that usually steals scenes but aside from Patty in Jessica Jones it always the wrong side character getting the most attention. Heck they killed off one of my favorites from the Dare Devil storyline.

OP is assuming its somewhat of a design-goal of eve to make players happy.this is however not the case.

Anyway I liked the Punisher. Was it 13 episodes of Frank Castle blowing away white guys with fake Italian ascents? No. Was it more anit-government than I remember frank castle stories being. Yes. Did it have side characters you didn't want to care about? No. Side characters made this work. Frank Castle isn't enough to make a whole series. Luke Cage, Iron Fist and Jessica aren't compelling enough by themselves to make a series, good direction and story generally fills in the gap. It didn't even drag in the middle like every other series (save IF that just dragged the entire time). Was as strong as daredevil no. Buts a pretty decent run, even consistent run that puts it some where in the middle of being my second favorite.

Just finished it and I liked it a lot. I think they could have trimmed about three or four eps by dropping the pressure cooker bomber nonsense and not lost any narrative weight. It was also awesome seeing Landsman from The Wire doing something.

Just finished it myself, thought it was great. My only problem was that the actor playing Billy Russo looked like a malnourished hipster instead of a special forces badass. Dude skipped leg day too many times.

Enjoyed this well enough largely due to Bernthal and some of the supporting cast. Liked the slight more humanized take on Castle, and in particular his interactions with Micro's family. I agree that there was a lot of filler but I was mostly had this on as background viewing while I was working on other things so it didn't bother me too much.

I enjoyed this a lot. Alas, I'm forced to agree with JG that the suspension of disbelief was strained multiple times. The guy heals faster than Logan ffs.

But it worked well for me, even if it didn't end exactly where I thought it would.

I have to agree. I really enjoyed the series overall, probably second favourite next to the first Daredevil, but I felt it was a bit too long and drawn out and the amount of punishment (pun intended) Castle took was way too much for a superhero with no superpowers.

Season 2 renewal. The biggest surprise there is that it is renewed for Netflix specifically - I thought Marvel's streaming service would be up and running and get in the way of Netflix having the second season. The Disney Streaming should happen before late 2019, so I guess we're getting Season 2 of Punisher in early 2019?

Didn't mind the number of episodes and enjoyed the way it started slow and accelerated, in contrast to DD and JJ which started too fast and then had to take a 3 episode time out in the middle.

Others have pointed out the healing thing - seems it could have been fixed here just by spreading the timeline out a bit. Writers these days seem to believe a series like this has to play out over 7 days at most. But the story would have been fine told over a year or more.

Action was pretty great - the other series have been able to rely on melee combat to make them look good. Doing things this well with guns is unusual.

"People will not assume that what they read on the internet is trustworthy or that it carries any particular ­assurance or accuracy" - Lord Leveson"Hyperbole is a cancer" - Lakov Sanite

This is the one Marvel Netflix show I hope sticks around. Disney wouldn't even be able to show that trailer on Disney+. Not to take anything away from the casting in the other shows because a lot of it has been great, but Bernthal is an absolutely perfect fit for the role of the Punisher and I'd like to see him get a least a couple more seasons with it.

Bernthal is an absolutely perfect fit for the role of the Punisher and I'd like to see him get a least a couple more seasons with it.

This. I actually think he is a fantastic actor. I hated him in the Walking Dead, right up until I figured out that it was because he was so fucking awesome at being an unlikeable prick. With Punisher, he becomes a likeable anti-hero prick. The story barely matters. For me, Punisher is almost as good as Daredevil, and I think DD is perhaps in my top three all time favorite series (only just started Season 3, so subject to change I guess).

I bet they will kill it on general principle, though.

Never, ever assume someone that short and fat has their shit together. - Schild

Bernthal is an absolutely perfect fit for the role of the Punisher and I'd like to see him get a least a couple more seasons with it.

This. I actually think he is a fantastic actor. I hated him in the Walking Dead, right up until I figured out that it was because he was so fucking awesome at being an unlikeable prick. With Punisher, he becomes a likeable anti-hero prick. The story barely matters. For me, Punisher is almost as good as Daredevil

The only thing I disagree with is that I think Daredevil is almost as good as Punisher.

On Bernthal, I think it turns out he can be cast as anything. Had exactly the same feeling about him on Walking dead. I hope he starts getting cast in things that give him big piles of cash.

"People will not assume that what they read on the internet is trustworthy or that it carries any particular ­assurance or accuracy" - Lord Leveson"Hyperbole is a cancer" - Lakov Sanite